[Fixed] Windows Media Creation Tool Can't Find USB Error: We Can't Find a USB Flash Drive

How can I effectively fix the "Windows 10 installer can't find USB flash drive" error? Try the solutions below.

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We can't find your USB flash drive - Windows 10 install error

The "USB flash drive not found" error can be annoying when you try to create a bootable USB drive using the Windows Media Creation Tool to upgrade to Windows 10. The strange thing about the "Windows Media Creation Tool can't find USB flash drive" error in the Windows Setup is that you can see the USB on your computer, but the system says it's not there.

No matter how many times you update the drive list, the Media Creation Tool can't find the USB. With no other options available, the Windows 10 installation is paused unless you figure out why your USB flash drive isn't showing up.

Don't worry about this error. We'll share some experiences on how to fix the 'USB flash drive not found. Windows 10 installation error 64-bit or 32-bit' issue with the Media Creation Tool. The detailed steps of all solutions are as below.

Easily Fix: Windows 10 Media Creation Tool Not Working

It's annoying when the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool is not working, especially before you finish the Windows 10 installation. This post offers 6 solutions and an easy-to-use alternative.

Possible reasons why a USB flash drive cannot be detected

• The Windows Media Creation Tool might not find the USB drive if it's a SanDisk.
• Update the drivers on your Windows 10 computer before installing.
• The 64-bit install may be too big for your 4GB USB drive, especially when you see the need to free up xx GB of available disk space on the selected drive.
• A USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port issue can cause the Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to not recognize the USB drive even though it's correctly connected.
• The USB flash drive itself is damaged or has bad sectors and isn't currently working correctly.
• The USB drive is incorrectly set as the primary drive in Windows.
• The USB drive shows up as a CD drive in Windows, or even as C:.

7 Solutions to "Windows Media Creation Tool Can't Find USB Drive"

We'll tackle the “Windows Media Creation Tool not finding USB” issue from simple to complex. Any of these seven solutions might fix the problem, depending on your situation.

1. Try using a different USB drive

You should first check if you can access the USB flash drive from your computer via File Explorer. If there are no issues, the next step to fix the “USB flash drive not found” error would be to try connecting it to a different USB port.

Some users also reported that they encountered the Media Creation Tool not finding USB issue only on their SanDisk USB drives. Therefore, if the Media Creation Tool can't find SanDisk USB flash drives on multiple computers, try using other USB flash drives like Lexar and Toshiba.

2. Check for issues with the USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 port

While USB 3.0 ports are compatible with USB 2.0, issues can still arise. Try connecting to a different port between the two types. If necessary, troubleshoot USB 3.0 not working.

3. Check and fix bad sectors on the USB drive

If there are bad sectors on the USB drive, we can't rule out the possibility of still having issues with the USB flash drive. You can use a professional partition tool – tools Partition Master to check and fix the file system to solve the problem.

Disk Management tool provides all-around partition solutions for both beginners and experts. You can use it to create partitions, resize/move partitions (e.g. allocate space from D drive to C drive), merge/partition wipe/formatted, clone hard drive, erase data, etc.

Step 1: Open Partition Master on your computer. Then, right-click the partition that you want to check and select Advanced > Check File System.

Select "Check Partition":

(2) In the Check File System window, select the Try to fix errors when found option, and then click Start.

Step 3: The software will now scan the partitions on the disk for file systems. When it's done, click Finish.

Finish the check

4. Update the USB driver

When encountering the error of not finding the USB flash drive, it could be an issue with the USB or the tool you're using, so you can check for USB problems, such as the USB driver.

Step 1: Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.

2. Expand “Disk Drives.” Right-click on the USB drive and select “Properties.” On the “Driver” tab, click “Update Driver.” You can choose to “Search automatically for updated driver software.”

5. Reformat the USB flash drive

Before creating a bootable USB drive, the installer should format the USB. If the formatting process fails, that could also cause issues with the drive not being recognized. In this case, reformat your USB and check if the Windows Media Creation Tool can detect the USB.

Here are 4 best USB formatting tools that can be used to format USB flash drive on Windows 10. Go and learn the detailed steps.

• Use a partition master tool
• Utilize File Explorer
• Employ Disk Management
• Utilize Diskpart in Command Prompt

6. Check if USB is set as the preferred drive

If you set the USB flash drive as the primary drive, it won't show up in the drive list. Then, you receive a Windows Media Creation Tool can't find USB error. There might be a primary disk on the USB drive, too.

To resolve the issue, you can go to Disk Management and check if the USB is set as a primary partition. If so, delete the partition and format it to convert it to a standard drive.

Alternatively, you can use a disk management utility to convert the primary partition directly to a logical drive.

Step 1. Download and run Partition Master, then go to “Partition Manager.”

Step 2. Right-click the partition you want to convert and select "Advanced." Choose the conversion option:

1. 1. Primary to Logic
2. 2. Logic to Primary

Step 3: Click the "Run 1 Task" button and select "Apply" to start the conversion process.

0:00 - 0:30 Translating the main into logic; 0:31 - 0:50 translating logic back into the main.

Create a Bootable USB Drive using Rufus

To create a bootable USB drive for upgrading to Windows 10, you can use a simple tool without the Windows Media Creation Tool. The app called Rufus can help you quickly format and create a bootable USB drive.

Step 1: Insert your USB drive into your computer. Download Rufus from this website.

Step 2. Under Devices, open the Tools dropdown and select your USB device from the list.

Step 3. When formatting, make sure you select GPT partition scheme for UEFI and leave the File system as FAT32. Keep the Cluster size at its default setting.

Step 4: Click on the disk icon and select the .iso file that contains the Windows 10 installer.

Step 5: Click "Start," and then wait for the process to finish. When it's done, you'll have a bootable USB drive that you can use to install Windows 10.

Clean up the mess

This article covers all the possible causes and solutions to the “Windows 10 install failed: USB flash drive not found” error. To fix this issue, you need to verify if your USB device is accessible on your computer or try using a different USB flash drive and USB port.

Additionally, you could try updating the USB driver in Device Manager, check the file system, format the USB drive, examine the primary partition, and use other tools to create a bootable Windows 10 installation USB.

If none of the above helps, please seek immediate assistance from our Technical Support team via LiveChat or by sending an email to techsupport@tools.com.